doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT Boy's Life Magazine

Another thread got me to reminiscing about my first exposure to the exploits of the famous Jim Corbett, hunter of man-eating tigers in India. I first "heard" of him in a magazine named Boy's Life, which was available to Boy Scouts by subscription. I would have been about 12 or 13 when I read the article about Corbett in the magazine. Sixty years later I remember exactly where I was when I read that. Isn't it amazing how something as innocuous as a written story of tiger hunting can have such a lasting influence on a person?

Does anyone else here remember Boy's Life magazine?

If you haven't already seen it, this episode of "Under Wild Skies" might be of interest, Stan.

Stan,
I had a subscription from the second grade, when my mom was our den mother for the neighborhood troop, until about eighth grade, when I lost interest in being a Boy Scout. Ironically, it was the lack of opportunities to hunt and fish within the scouts that caused my interest to wan. That was what I wanted to be doing.
It never happened to me, but the local troop was disbanded after accusations of child abuse were leveled at the people running it. I don’t recall what they were, but, for whatever reason troop 516 was disbanded pretty quickly about a decade after I was no longer part of it. Another troop was founded, and my next door neighbor kid was part of that organization. I vividly recall that kid asking me to accompany him so he could go on a father and son camping trip, because, for no reason of his own, he didn’t have a father, and he couldn’t go without an adult male to accompany him. I volunteered to go, and actually had an outstanding time camping in the woods with his Cub Scout pack.

We caught a mess of smallmouth bass in the Rum River, and had an actual shore lunch. The guys running the new troop were fantastic fishermen. That kid ended up dropping out of college, traveling to Europe to spend the summer touring on a motorcycle, and met a girl in Spain, married her, and never returned. He has a couple kids. They for sure have a dad. Last conversation I had with him he chatted with my wife in Spanish on the phone for 15 minutes or so. He really turned his life a different, and good direction.

Thanks for the good memory prompt.

Best,
Ted

My son is now 20, and he got his Eagle rank about 3 years ago. He subscribed to Boys Life for probably the last 5 years he was in Scouts. He and I had a ton of good times with his Troop and Packs. The modern Boys Life had a lot of good adventure stories, but not much about hunting and firearms. I’m thankful for all fun and learning he got from Scouting.

Larry

I did not read Boy's Life but I do have a fascination with Tiger hunting. I just finished "Big Game Hunting in Nepal", an outstanding read with some interesting aspects of jungle life I had not read of before including enclosing the tigers in a larger ring formed by Elephants and cloth, capturing Tiger cubs, fighting wild bull Elephants armed with a lance while riding a domesticated Elephant and capturing wild bull Elephants. Asia was a sportsman's paradise a hundred years ago. I have most if not all of Corbet's books, great stuff!

Boys Life became Scout Life in 2021 to accommodate the girls. I was a Boy Scout as a kid and an ASM for 13 years. My youngest is an Eagle. I loved BL magazine. I believe in the back of the magazine was an ad for military surplus jeeps that were drop shipped in a crate disassembled. Always wanted to order one. Cool stuff.

Ted, my grandpa took me to the Rum River in the early '60s. He put on his waders and carried me on his shoulders. I had him grab some clams to show them to me. That same day, he told me what an 'outdoor biffy' was! He was a scout leader back in the '40s and '50s. I remember reading Boy's Life, too.

So glad there are some others here who have good memories about scouting, and Boy's Life. I was in a very small troop, Troop 203, but we were active in camping, hiking, attending jamborees and summer camp, etc. I made Eagle and was inducted into the Order Of The Arrow. Dad knew my adventurous spirit and made me a promise that he would pay for me a summer trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico if I dedicated myself and achieved Eagle rank. I did, and I went. It was a trip of a lifetime. We climbed Baldy Mtn., some 12,000+ ft., that August. I also achieved my God And Country award before leaving the Boy Scouts and entering the Explorers, which was a BSA sanctioned organization for older Scouts who had achieved Eagle rank and wanted to help younger Boy Scouts, at camp, etc.

I was introduced to competitive shooting at summer camp near Augusta. GA, at Camp Linwood Hayne. That also awakened something in me that has never died.

I loved the ads for BB guns and .22's. Can you imagine a kids magazine with gun ads today?

Scouting is a far cry from what it was in my adolescent days. Back then it was a builder of leaders, and men.

To quote 2 Samuel 1:27, "How the mighty have fallen.........".

I was introduced to shooting at Philmont in 1957. Boys Life became my conduit to applying Scouting to my life. It was my magazine, my stories, my interest. Not school, not adults, but mine. It opened the world to me. It reinforced the need for self reliance and clear thinking and taught me to actually be prepared for problems. The lessons learned served me well in the field and combat.

I liked the summer jamboree, when there were shooters from wide and far. Got called back to shoot at the camp finals a few times, but I couldn't get enough of those hand thrown minis for those old smooth bore Remington bolt .22s. Chips were like smoking 'em. I also like the ads in the back of Boy's Life, plans and kits for the coolest projects in the world, even talked mom into ordering a sea horse and little quail hatchery kit. If it came up today, I wouldn't be overly excited if a grandson asked me what I thought about joining, and we don't need yet another inclusivity media campaign for the kids.

The above posts bring back many memories of Boy Scouting, Order of the Arrow, serving on the Staff at summer camp and Pioneer camp. We had great leaders without a whisper of scandal. The Boy Scouts were a large part of my Life and helped form my personality. Stil to this day, I tie my boots with a square knot and thr "dummy chord" on my walking cane to a belt loop with a bowline. These are among the knots I learned in the scouts. I received Boy's Life the whole time and read them from cover to cover in one sitting. The Jim Corbett story must have been after my time but have read his books and there is no doubt it would have been one of the first story's I would have read. I remember wearing a Cub Scout Knife to school, clipped onto my uniform belt on meeting days. Today they would close the school and call S.W.A.T.
Mike

Thanks for starting this thread Stan, which is appropriate for Father's Day and for a gun related forum.
My father left when I was 8, and were it not for the Boy Scouts and reading Ruark's "The Old Man and the Boy" my life could have turned out much differently.
"Boy's Life" had lots of gun related ads, and my first gun (much to my mother's horror) was an Ithaca Saddlegun



Stan's NRA medal



I'll post some more after church

"A Scout Is Reverent" (which I believe the Scouting/USA is doing away with)

Both the Oath and Scout Law have been turned upside down and inside out by the Scouting Powers That Be.

Steve, is that "Big Game Shooting in Nepal (with leaves from the Maharaja's Diary)" by Smythies?

Yes, that is the one.

I'm sure everyone in Scouting recalls Norman Rockwell's "The Scoutmaster" cover on Boys' Life Feb. 1956



In an inadequate attempt to pay back the men that invested in me as a Scout (Eagle 1967), I started volunteering with Troop 84 in Kansas City in 95' (my old troop had disbanded.) We had a yearly camp out near a range to introduce the Scouts to shotguns - and almost none had previously shot. I had a Ruger 28g upon which I installed an adjustable comb and LOP butt, and I think they all came away smiling.
I also started volunteering at the Health Lodge a Bartle Scout Reservation on Truman Lake, then Camp Geronimo near Pine here in AZ starting in 2006. When full, Bartle had about 1,700 Scouts, Adult Leaders and Staff, and we had some wild medical emergencies.

A boy's future was once built on a foundation of family (< than 25% of households in the U.S. today have both a mother and a father), school (public schools now DEI indoctrination camps), church (regular house of worship attendance in the U.S. is now about 30%) and Scouting (In 1972, about 31% of the 19 million boys aged 10 - 19 were in Scouting; in 1998, about 25 percent.) That foundation has been purposefully destroyed, and boys have never been as lost, confused, despondent, angry, and without purpose; which is reflected by the marked increase in suicide and suicide attempts in grade and middle schools.

This is a letter I sent when I stopped volunteering in 2013
Like tens of thousands of men and boys, I’m mourning the death of one of the few remaining institutions that have existed to develop character, honor, integrity, and courage in young men. The only father many boys know today is their mother’s current live-in, Protestant churches have replaced Biblical truth with ‘feel good’ psychology, and the same activists that are destroying Scouting, and who will not be satisfied until adult leadership is open to any variant of LGBTQIA, now control the public education of our children. The military and prison system cannot correct the expected results.
I would not be the man that I am were it not for Scouting. My small service to Scouting has been pay-back to the men that enabled me to be a scout, modeled what I hoped to become, and expressed in action and words their care for me. I am pessimistic that anything can replace what Scouting once was. My heart is heavy with this loss, which will have enormous consequences for this country.
Pray for our boys. Pray for America. Satan won a big one.

But we, as men, can do what we can to get a boy outside, with a gun in his hands.
"On My Honor" still matters, but must be taught and modeled by men.

The 1960s issues are available here. Use the bar underneath the covers to scroll through the dates, then click on the cover you want to read
https://books.google.com/books?id=TVGeB4AU0_4C&source=gbs_all_issues_r&cad=1



November 1967.

[quote=Drew Hause].....A boy's future was once built on a foundation of family (< than 25% of households in the U.S. today have both a mother and a father), school (public schools now DEI indoctrination camps), church (regular house of worship attendance in the U.S. is now about 30%) and Scouting (In 1972, about 31% of the 19 million boys aged 10 - 19 were in Scouting; in 1998, about 25 percent.) That foundation has been purposefully destroyed, and boys have never been as lost, confused, despondent, angry, and without purpose; which is reflected by the marked increase in suicide and suicide attempts in grade and middle schools....[quote]

I'm commenting to thank you for the link to the Boy's Life back issue, but I can't help noticing it's the same sociopolitical decay, expoused by some friends of the double gun, tacitly excused by those who claim to be unaffected. I do not think "we" should bother with a letter, it will be belittled as a joke.

Really great memories, scrolling through a couple of those issues. The plain old Sears catalog from that era was another drift off into dream land.

In 1962 my brother found an ad in Boys Life offering the opportunity to sell greeting cards for prizes. He sent away for and received 38 boxes which he sold and sent in the money. Sometime later he received his prize a Marlin singleshot 22lr rifle. He was eleven years old. No one was ever harmed with that little rifle. Our father and mother were slightly surprised but that was the way it was back then, A year later that was illegal, as it was assumed an eleven-year-old cub scout might assassinate the POTUS.

Boy Scouts did a lot of good for this nation. Yes it has fallen on hard timers, but that is not the boys fault. All our nation has fallen on bad times and I fear we will never recover. Not just Boy Scouts helped shape our youth, but they were the largest. We had a DOD sponsored shooting program for young people when I was a kid. Church groups and even service clubs took an active interest in kids. Law suits, liabilities and loony people have ruined a lot of things for everybody.

When I was in seventh grade, my school had a marksman ship program where we shot .22 after school, in the gym. We were allowed to bring in our own .22 rifles on the school bus. Once at school we went directly to the gym teachers office and put our rifles in the rack behind his desk. It cost .25 to shoot five five shot strings, and a penny each to practice. We shot paper targets on our indoor rifle range. High score got a box of 50 .22 bullets as the prize and the target was displayed on the school bulletin board for a week. I won over a dozen times in my first year. Farm boys just could all shoot back in those days. I still have my Remington single shot .22 rifle and used it to teach each of my five kids basic gun safety.

That program was very popular and if you did not have your own gun you could borrow a friends gun, or use one of the two school owned guns. All it took was a signed permission slip from your parents and a quarter. If you tried to restart that program today, heads would truly explode. We never had a accident, never had any boy not follow the rules to the letter and never had a single complaint from other students, parents or school teachers. The bus drivers knew to wait until we were finished before leaving. It took less than half an hour to complete the program. It was run with military clockwork precision. Our gym teacher had been in the marines in WWII and ran a tight ship.

I miss those days and think kids today are getting short changed, all in the name of diversity, safety and being acceptably by those who seem to hate what our very nation has stood for. Had we not been those unlikable people, the entire Europe would be speaking German, Communism would be the only other government form on Earth and the death camps would have killed 100 million instead of just, just 17 million. What an obscene thought.

Well said, John. We can only dream.

My brother was in Cub Scouts (our mother was a Den Mother for a few years) and while I never was a Scout (cub or boy), I did get the magazine. It was everything that has been described here and I really looked forward to it each month. My visions of what the American West might be were formed in the late 1960s from reading that magazine and it clearly contributed to my move "out-west" (to experience first-hand the great hunting & fishing described therein) when I graduated from College. My son was also a Cub & Boy Scout, but... by then the non-traditional (leftist) assault on Scouting had already begun. His trips to Yellowstone and even SeaBase as a Scout weren't nearly as exciting as what had been the experience just a few years earlier. When girls were added to the program, he and several other scout friends of his quit scouting permanently. We were disappointed (an Eagle was still in reach for him) but...given the circumstances at the time we accepted his decision (there were other things going on then too, an openly-gay scouting assistant had just committed suicide).

I was a Cub Scout then Boy Scout growing up.

My father was no outdoorsman so Scouting taught me many of the outdoor skills I have used through my life.

I read Boy's Life. We did 50 mile hikes, winter camping, Klondike Derby, Scout camp, Order of the Arrow, Philmont Scout Ranch in NM and Merit Badges.

I learned things in Scouts that have made me a good person with values.

I moved west from VT because I loved my Philmont experience so much at 14 years old.

It's sad that Scouting got ruined and woke.


I too have Jim Corbett's books. I saw his W.J. Jeffery .450-400 double rifle on display years back in the Elmer Keith collection. Elmer's family sold all his guns at auction a few years ago.

All this posting about scouting and "Boy's Life" just makes me sad. I was born in 1948 and grew up in the '50's. Still have my boy scout pocket knife; unfortunately re-sharpened to a nub....Geo

My Dad sold those cards and got a Marlin. Not a single shot. It's a model 80. I still have it. It's very accurate. Old Marlins are nice.

My friend volunteers teaching marksmanship to the Scouts (and has for a long time). So yup, they still do it. He's a NRA instructor. I think the Scouts get a NRA badge or something. Maybe a hunter's safety card.

Scouts get merit badges for shotgun shooting and rifle shooting using 20 gauge shotguns and .22 single shot rifles at summer camp. When I was involved with the troop we would set up a trap and throw clays on overnight hikes. Each patrol would compete against the other for the privilege of special dessert on Saturday night. We would also introduce them to center fire rifles on our annual Father/Son hike. But alas, the karens and lawyers at the national organization put the kabosch on that. No more fun.

Yep. I remember Boys Life. Great magazine. I bet if I looked hard enough in my basement, I could still find a copy or two. Great thread!!

I thought you were ignoring Stan…


Best,
Ted

It's tragic Ted...

They start out licking the school bus window. They never get a Scout knife because they would hurt themselves. Then they grow up unable to properly use the DoubleGunShop IGNORE USER function. Then, in the final stages, they become gun owners who vote for anti-gun Democrats.

Found it!! Now I remember why I saved it. It has Joe Montana on the cover. Awesome!!☺

Like a moth to the flame, Ted.

And just for the record, I still have Stanton, Ted, keith and a few others on my ignore list, so I can't see what they are saying in their posts and will not comment on their remarks. But, I still CAN SEE on the front page under THREAD TITLE who started a thread. So, just ignoring what they say in a post works for me. I never said I won't comment in a thread they start, but I will still keep what they say in their posts on my ignore list. That way THEY will be the responsible ones for ruining people's threads like they did Mark21's. I'm happy!! It's like an OUTGOING CALLS ONLY on a telephone. I can say what I want, where I want, but I can't receive anything that I don't want to see or hear from these people on my ignore list. And by the way Stanton, great thread! And there's no need to comment anymore. I won't see or read it. Works for me!! So, let's keep it that way!! 🤪

Great memories of both. I was a Cub Scout, advancing to Webelos. An older cousin was a Boy Scout, and sometimes he would give me his Boy's Life magazines after he read them. Since both of my parents worked, I had to choose between Boy Scouts or Baseball. I chose Baseball.

Our young men badly need organizations with structure, guidance, and leadership. Be it scouting or sports.

Jimmy, I'd like to thank you for explaining how you responded to Ted's comment about not really IGNORING Stan.... even though you also IGNORE Ted.

It takes a very "special" talent to be able to see and respond to Posts that you claim to IGNORE. Knowing you have that "special" talent is why I am responding to you. Even though you are IGNORING me too, you have shown all of us that you have the unique and "special" ability to see what you claim you do not see. So I am confident you will see this thank-you message, and that you will understand how grateful we are to see you using this "special" talent.

Stan likened your initial response as being "Like a moth to a flame." Personally, I think moths are smarter.

It must be a Liberal Left thing, because other Liberals here have demonstrated the same unique talent of reading and responding to Posts and Threads that they are IGNORING. It appears to be some sort of Liberal coping mechanism, or perhaps an Internet Safe Space for sensitive and thin-skinned types.

BTW, Marks21's Lefever Thread was ruined when he deleted the two photos he had posted without any description or commentary. He was apparently offended by Ed saying he didn't care for such gaudy embellishment on a gun, which is a matter of taste, and not offensive in the least. He also claimed there was a "lack of interest", but several guys had showed interest. Everything else happened after he torpedoed his own Thread by deleting his original content, and you were in the mix. Of course, you went back and deleted your last few Trolling Posts in that Thread... so you can act innocent now. Your deletions are still there, so you can hope everyone you wish to fool IGNORES that. You're a hoot Jimmy. Thanks for the laughs!

Late to the party, here none the less! Much like Lloyd3 I was not a Boy Scout. Too far for me to go to attend meetings etc. A whopping five miles! I did have a subscription to Boy's Life compliments of my Uncle Fred, also a script for Nat Geo, whoo ee! Paid to have an Uncle working for IBM in the 60's/70's!

I truly enjoyed both mags. Put some ideas in me to go in different direction than farming. Not that farming is a bad thing!

Didn't hurt that my Grand Dad could be easily distracted into going fishing, hunting, building something totally interesting and utterly useless at the same time and so on.

Both of our Sons were in Scouts, I was an ASM along with a good friend the was the SM. Enjoyed the time with my Sons and their comrades. They were done as soon as they had there DL's, as was I.

It's a shame that the organization has been altered from its intent.

This is great. When I typed the original post I had no idea so many of us read the magazine. Interesting that so many doublegun enthusiasts read the same magazine as boys. So glad I started it. Thanks for all the replies.

I really never had a chance to be anything other than a rough and tumble country boy. Grew up on my grandfather's farm, hunted and fished from the age of five, started in Cub Scouts, progressed to Boy Scouts, went on to the Explorers and stayed active there until the age of 17, when I really started stinking under my armpits and discovered hotrods and girls. Actually I discovered those two earlier but the magnetism of the scouting life held me until 17. Worked summers for a plantation baling and hauling hay, other summers mixing mud and toting bricks and blocks for a brick mason, one summer wielding a bush hook (sling blade) for a surveyor, and another as a maintenance guy for the local GA Welcome Center at the state line. Never an inside job from day one.

I am grateful for a Dad who encouraged me in scouting, and did all he could to enable it.

Like Chief Amungum, I was not a scout either. But my cousin was a Cub Scout. I used to see him in his Cub Scout uniform and I thought he looked so cool. I think the best part about being a scout was they had those really neat knives with the bear insignia on them and I always loved knives when I was a kid. It sounds like you were a terrific father Chief Amungum! And Bravo to you, for that, sir!!

You would be a perfect scout master for the current version. You could give the entire troop participation badges, instill your values, and don’t forget, convince them to put off anything of merit by…..going to college on the layaway plan.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon on the skeet field at my club. A young couple, probably in their late 20s were shooting, too. They were sharing a Beretta O/U and the guy kept looking at my Model 21. Then he finally asked, "How come it has two triggers?" So, we shot a round together and I let the guy shoot my gun a few times. The girl was actually a bit better than the guy. I really enjoyed shooting with them and trying give them a few pointers. I don't think I did that much when I was younger- helping younger kids. Maybe it was because after I left the Army, I was preoccupied with going to college on the GI Bill in Indiana. Or working shift work in the automotive plant. Or maybe because I had my own two daughters to raise. So, I try to give now, what I didn't give when I was younger by helping kids at my shooting club whenever I can. Hopefully it is enough.

Thanks Jimmy though normally like most parents I was, am, always learning, trying and adapting to parenting! I suppose I did OK as the kids and I, (us) are close and we do a lot together. Now with their kids too!

My regret is that none of them care much for bird hunting, (or baseball)! I have one that deer hunts, alone mostly and target shooting is always joined by all. My oldest Grand Son, (13) and I are deer hunting this year. I have some trepidation as deer hunting is not my fave. I surely want him to succeed and so it goes!

The great news is I have two Grandkids that will fish you into oblivion!

Chief

Great memories. Loved the magazine as a kid. Our scout master was the local police chief, so we shot all kinds of guns all the time, including machine guns, can u imagine that now. Shaped my life for sure. I made Eagle Scout in 9th grade and moved on, as most boys did in high school.

Wow!! Shooting a machine gun at that age. I bet that was pretty awesome!! I shot machine guns in the army. Pretty awesome feeling!!

There was another magazine that was popular back in the 1960s. It always had a picture of this goofy looking kid on the cover who had a gap between his teeth. He was always saying, "What me worry?" What the heck was the name of that magazine? I know all the guys loved it but the parents hated it. I can't remember what that was.

MAD magazine. I never read it but saw it at the grocery store newsstand.

MAD Magazine!! That's it!! Now I remember!! Thank you!! Boy, was that ever a crazy magazine. I remember that parents thought that magazine would corrupt the minds of American kid's.

Alfred E. Neuman, why me worry? Bought the mag regularly. Surely (miss) shaped my brain! Later "The National Lampoon" sealed the deal!
Chief

an old friend, who was an eagle, and has stayed in the game for most of his life....told me that scouts had to make eagle "before the fumes got to them".

perfumes, and gasoline fumes....

best regards,

tom

That's excellent, Tom! So true.

The first Eagle Scout to serve as president was Gerald Ford. He became an Eagle Scout in 1927. He received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 1970. When he died in 2006 his family requested an honor guard of 200 Eagle Scouts.

Trivia: Gerald Ford-- The only person to serve as Vice President AND President and was never elected to either office.